2016 Disneyland Vacation - Day 2- Part 1

The following morning, the boys woke up to some special gifts. This time, they received some lanyards with trading pins (something we haven't done at Disney in the past) and of course some pennies for the penny presses along with the Disneyland Diamond coin holders as we were visiting during Disneyland's 60th Anniversary year.


We got ready and headed out for our day at Disney!


As I mentioned, it was Disneyland's 60th Anniversary celebration. So, there were lots of diamond overlays around Disney, including the Main Street train station.


We hurried over to the Jedi training line first thing. It was a long wait but we were able to sign the boys up for Jedi training later in the day. Then we rode Buzz Lightyear since it was a short line. The first ride picture is Justin and Westyn but Westyn is too short to really see. Then the next one is Justin and Garytt but Justin is wearing Garytt's Goofy ears.


Then we had a late breakfast reservation (which really served as our lunch) at the Plaza Inn with Minnie and friends. This turned out to be a great character dining because there were a lot more characters than normal and we met some characters that we have never seen before, including the Fairy Godmother and Pinocchio.


The silly chipmunks were fun too! They really made the boys laugh because they kept trying to eat their food and play tricks on the boys. They were really cracking up!


The moment that G saw that none other than Captain Hook was headed our way!


Now, we all know that Captain Hook is a sneaky pirate! He came over and stole the autograph books! Then he would sit at a table and wait for the boys to come over, then he would move again. The boys really weren't sure what to do (neither did Captain Hook's handlers). The boys were cracking up by the end.


This is the kind of character interaction you can only hope to get and only happens at the end of the available seating times. Minnie's breakfast seating ends at 11:00 and we had a 10:40 reservation. So, there were lots of empty tables and the characters have more time to spend with each remaining table. It was pretty awesome!

The one drawback to this dining location is that the Pooh characters are at Minnie's breakfast, too. And, anyone who knows me, knows I'm just not a fan of that stupid silly bear, the overly hyper tiger, and the pitiful donkey. I mean, where is the know-it-all rabbit...oh, wait, am I the only person who finds that to be the only reasonable character in that story? Huh.  Anyway, the boys seemed excited to seem them.


We also got to see Minnie, herself.


In between characters, the boys were even invited up to dance. This is not one of the character meals that routinely involve dancing, but again, I think the characters were trying to be entertaining while the finished visiting the final few tables.


One final look at the characters as they said good-bye.


We have been to a lot of character meals in the past few years, and this is by far one of the best experiences we have had. The sheer number of characters (ten in all) that attended this breakfast was far more than any other meal we have done. And, while not exactly planned, being at the end of the character dining reservation time allowed for far more character interaction that we have had in the past.

After that, we had just enough time ride a couple of Star Wars rides.  We rode the Star Tours first. The boys love this one, especially seeing C3PO driving the ship.


Space Hyperspace Mountain was next. They changed the name of the ride when they added the Star Wars overlay. Westyn was practicing using The Force before we got on the ride.


It was a fun day so far and the Star Wars rides really got the boys geared up to battle the Dark Side during Jedi training...